Railway General Knowledge.

[Spamcan81]

No, not spelt wrongly, but the answers are more to do with language than with engineering

More Schools please!

@Spamcan81
Correct, the Abbeys were Castles in 1955*
Brancepeth Castle was not a B17
@Gloster
You are warm but there were not three BCs
There were two Banbury Castles, 7011 + 5095 (this is not a clue)

* I only have the info from 1955, with rebuilds and renamings it is hard to be sure what was true when

Brancepeth castle was a B17. Numbered 2826 by the LNER when built and became BR 61626.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

@Spamcan81
Glad to believe that, the info in Observers Locomotives 1955 is inconsistent
Plenty of locos belonged to two or more classes at different times

@Gloster
Extra point for imagination, but there are lots of Broughtons, in Yorkshire and elsewhere, my hunch is that the geniuses in the publicity department at Paddington quarrelled and were not cooperating
There were indeed three Broughton locos (Castle, Grange, Hall), the only triumvirate I found
Plenty of doubles: Cleeve Abbey & Grange for example

Whatabout Bricklehampton and Drysllwyn?

 

[Spamcan81]

@Spamcan81
Glad to believe that, the info in Observers Locomotives 1955 is inconsistent
Plenty of locos belonged to two or more classes at different times

@Gloster
Extra point for imagination, but there are lots of Broughtons, in Yorkshire and elsewhere, my hunch is that the geniuses in the publicity department at Paddington quarrelled and were not cooperating
There were indeed three Broughton locos (Castle, Grange, Hall), the only triumvirate I found
Plenty of doubles: Cleeve Abbey & Grange for example

Whatabout Bricklehampton and Drysllwyn?

Regarding Brancepeth Castle, did the 1955 edition have it as a B2 by any chance?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

@Spamcan81
Brancepeth Castle: 61626, page 50, according to the index [wrong/inconsistent!]
But page 51 (B2 + B17) lists 61600 - 61672, of which a handful were B2s, so BC was a B17 in 1955, apparently
The photo is of 61632 Belvoir Castle (B2)
..
Anyone got suggestions for what is special about Bricklehampton and Drysllwyn? Not the locos, not the places, the words, names, letters!

 

[SteveM70]

Drysllwyn is maybe the longest (or only?) name with no vowels in it?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Drysllwyn is maybe the longest (or only?) name with no vowels in it?

Yes, that is the answer I was looking for, in English at least
In Welsh it is easy enough to pronounce

 

[Loppylugs]

No, not spelt wrongly, but the answers are more to do with language than with engineering

More Schools please!

@Spamcan81
Correct, the Abbeys were Castles in 1955*
Brancepeth Castle was not a B17
@Gloster
You are warm but there were not three BCs
There were two Banbury Castles, 7011 + 5095 (this is not a clue)

* I only have the info from 1955, with rebuilds and renamings it is hard to be sure what was true when

There never were two Banbury Castles. 7011 carried that name, but 5095 was Barbury Castle which is just a grassy mound on the outskirts of Swindon.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Nobody guessed Bricklehampton! It is fairly famous as the longest UK place name that does not repeat a letter

@Loppylugs
Looks like another misprint, I imagine you are right

I checked the Schools names and locations, there is a Bradfield School in Edinburgh, the furthest. Some names might be used by more than one school, some schools may have closed or changed their names

@Spamcan81 got the most, five points, by naming three schools, Abbeys-Castles, B17

 

[Gloster]

I think that the Bradfield School is the one west of Reading (not in Essex, as I thought), so just north of SR territory, and is also a public school, which is what the names had in common. Bradfield sometimes calls itself College.

 

[SteveM70]

I checked the Schools names and locations, there is a Bradfield School in Edinburgh, the furthest.

I think the Bradfield concerned is in Berkshire. It’s called Bradfield College now

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

@Spamcan81
Care to set a question? Diolch/thanks

 

[Spamcan81]

@Spamcan81
Care to set a question? Diolch/thanks

Sorry. Didn't realise I'd been declared the winner.

Replacing a 15" gauge railway opened in 1914, this 18" gauge railway opened in 1922 and closed in 1932. The line linked with the NER/LNER. Name the railway.

 

[Calthrop]

The Sand Hutton Light Railway.

 

[Spamcan81]

The Sand Hutton Light Railway.

Spot on. The oily rag is yours.

 

[Calthrop]

Thank you. (I'd love to have been in the extremely narrow time-window for experiencing personally, the 18 in. gauge SHLR -- it seems to have been quite marvellously weird...)


The firm of David & Charles published in the 1960s, a series of books called "Railway Holiday In..." (a variety of western European countries -- basically, "a volume per land / region").

How many books were published in this series; and, which were the countries / regions respectively covered by the "however-many"? There were some oddities and complexities here -- it wasn't simply straightforwardly "one book, one nation": total meticulous accuracy re this, not demanded; just the essential "picture", covering all the books.

("Virtual bonus points" for names of books' authors; this, purely optional and for-fun.)

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Germany?
Scandinavia?
and Luxembourg?

 

[Calthrop]

Germany?
Scandinavia?
and Luxembourg?

Please pardon the terse-ness; but:

1) -- G. -- "half-yes"

2) -- S. -- yes

3) --L. -- no

A large number of places -- won't give the number away -- still to go.

 

[Gloster]

I think Germany was in two parts, northern and southern, which covered the old West Germany, but not - l think - the East.

Were Spain and Portugal lumped together?

Did John Snell write some (France?) or am I thinking of the Handbooks series?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Sorry, I meant 'Belgium and Luxembourg'!
Of course, there were two Germanies back then, easy to forget
'West Germany' + 'East Germany' , or BRD and DDR?

Did Mr J H Price of Thomas Cook Timetables write some of the books?

 

[Spamcan81]

There just has to be one on France.

 

[Calthrop]

I think Germany was in two parts, northern and southern, which covered the old West Germany.

Sorry, I meant 'Belgium and Luxembourg'!
Of course, there were two Germanies back then, easy to forget
'West Germany' + 'East Germany' , or BRD and DDR?

Did Mr J H Price of Thomas Cook Timetables write some of the books?

"To both" -- indeed, two books on Germany -- @Gloster, re West Germany as was, for sure "one north and one south" -- @LSWR Cavalier, the DDR didn't feature: the series did not deal with anywhere in the Communist bloc -- as at the 1960s, just too "gricer-hostile" to be acceptable for the purpose.

@LSWR Cavalier --

for whatever reason, the series did not at all feature the Low Countries.

J.H. Price wrote the "south Germany" book -- Railway Holiday in Bavaria -- covering in fact, a good deal more than the Land of Bavaria .

There just has to be one on France.

You are not wrong -- in fact, the first-published of the series.


Four down -- "x"-number still to go !

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Spain, Portugal, Andorra together?
Italy of course?
Schweiz + Oesterreich together?
Greece? (a slim volume)
Eire?
Was Finland included in 'Scandinavia'?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

As an aside, I'd never heard about these books, so I went searching for some more information. This is a link from the International Steam web site of a rather lengthy review by Rob Dickinson on the series: The David & Charles "Railway Holiday" Books (internationalsteam.co.uk). It obviously gives all the titles, so if you're stuck for the answers and don't want to have "outside help", don't look at it until the answers have been given - but it is an interesting read all the same. It seems that some (but not all) are still available, although not through the current David & Charles firm.

 

[Calthrop]

Spain, Portugal, Andorra together?
Italy of course?
Schweiz + Oesterreich together?
Greece? (a slim volume)
Eire?
Was Finland included in 'Scandinavia'?

As an aside, I'd never heard about these books, so I went searching for some more information. This is a link from the International Steam web site of a rather lengthy review by Rob Dickinson on the series: The David & Charles "Railway Holiday" Books (internationalsteam.co.uk). It obviously gives all the titles, so if you're stuck for the answers and don't want to have "outside help", don't look at it until the answers have been given - but it is an interesting read all the same. It seems that some (but not all) are still available, although not through the current David & Charles firm.

Wow ! -- this is getting "out of control"... @EbbwJunction1, it was I myself who wrote the piece on "International Steam", which you link to. Re the railukforums Railway General Knowledge question -- I was running short of questions to set, and this came to mind...

"Pushing on" -- @LSWR Cavalier, "in order":

Spain and Portugal -- two books out of the total, OK -- though not quite so tidy as one-per-country. Andorra has never had railways.

Italy -- yes -- one book.

"Switzerland and Austria together" -- literally: no.

Greece -- no.

Eire -- no. (D & C seemingly figured that the British Isles were all one country, "1921 and all that" notwithstanding; and come the early 1960s, railway matters in Ireland -- North, and Republic, both -- were in decline to the point of being of restricted interest.)

Finland -- for whatever reason, not included.


We're all-but there; but not totally and completely.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Wow ! -- this is getting "out of control"... @EbbwJunction1, it was I myself who wrote the piece on "International Steam", which you link to. Re the railukforums Railway General Knowledge question -- I was running short of questions to set, and this came to mind...

Well, this only goes to show that it really is a small world - thanks!

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Did David St John Thomas write some of the books?

Switzerland, Austria: one book each?
Was there a book about Yugoslavia? It was a bit less hard to visit than some of the communist regimes

 

[Calthrop]

EbbwJunction1 said: Well, this only goes to show that it really is a small world - thanks!

Quoting a certain unreadable-to-me lady author: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that..."

Did David St John Thomas write some of the books?

Switzerland, Austria: one book each?

D. St J. T. -- no.

Switz. and Aus. -- indeed, one book each.

Was there a book about Yugoslavia? It was a bit less hard to visit than some of the communist regimes

Book about Yugo: it's gathered that in the late '60s, one was thought about; but for whatever reasons, never happened. (Yugoslavia, though more "permissive" in some ways than the Soviet bloc; was in general more paranoid and problematic about rail photography [total deal-breaker for the majority of enthusiasts] than anywhere in the Soviet bloc; including the USSR itself, which was -- per the few who went there -- often surprisingly relaxed about photography.)

@Gloster -- sorry -- I failed at the time, fully to take in your post. -- "Were Spain and Portugal lumped together?" -- also naming France. One book on Spain (D. Trevor Rowe); one on north-west Spain and Portugal (D. W. Winkworth). (France was by George Behrend, not Snell.)

By my reckoning: @LSWR Cavalier wins -- beating @Gloster by am extremely narrow neck.

@LSWR Cavalier: over to you, to venture into "abroad" realms full of unhygienic bloody foreigners; or wherever you may fancy...

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Thanks very much

Please name the authors of the following railway books

All Aboard with E M Frimbo
Railways for all
The Kingdom by the Sea
Platform Souls
Men of Iron: Brunel..
Eleven Minutes Late
Railway through Talerddig
Narrow-Gauge Railways: England and the fifteen inch
Die Entgleisung/the derailment

 

[Calthrop]

Four of eight:


All Aboard with E M Frimbo -- Rogers E. M. Whitaker

Platform Souls -- Nicholas Whittaker (what is it with Whitakers -- one or two t's -- on this theme )

Eleven Minutes Late -- Matthew Engel

N/g Rys. England and the 15-in. -- Humphrey Household

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

@Calthrop
Four points out of nine. I had not noticed the similar names, reminded me of Whittakers Almanac, I used to like reading that